Developing a Successful Framework for Online Delivery of Non-credit Engineering Short Courses to Global Aerospace Professionals

Soma Chakrabarti; Kimberly Anne Hunsinger

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Conference: 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Publication Date: June 10, 2012
Start Date: June 10, 2012
End Date: June 13, 2012
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Engineering Professional Development and Distance Learning Programs
Tagged Division: Continuing Professional Development
Page Count: 9
Page Numbers: 25.419.1 - 25.419.9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--21177
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/21177
Download Count: 385

Paper Authors

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Soma Chakrabarti University of Kansas

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Soma Chakrabarti is the Director of Center for Engineering and Interdisciplinary Professional Education at the University of Kansas Continuing Education. In this capacity, she is responsible for providing leadership and direction for future growth of Aerospace Short Course program, online engineering technology short courses, interdisciplinary bioengineering short courses, and engineering conferences. Prior to her present appointment, she served as the Director of Aerospace Short Course program within the same unit; developed both industry-academia and government-academia partnerships in Asia, Europe, Australia, and South America for engineering workforce development; and provided leadership in increasing international participation in professional engineering short courses presented by the University of Kansas. Before joining KU Continuing Education, she was the President and Chief Executive Officer of BioComp Systems, Inc., a University of Kansas spin-off, which developed a near-commercial quality prototype of a true 3-dimensional display system for biomedical visualization using National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research Phase I and Phase II grants. Chakrabarti was the Principal Investigator of both of these grants. She has taught chemical engineering and was an Associate Research Engineer in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, both at the University of Kansas. She has a doctorate in biochemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

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Kimberly Anne Hunsinger University of Kansas

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Kimberly Hunsinger is the Assistant Director of Center for Engineering and Interdisciplinary Professional Education at the University of Kansas Continuing Education. For the past eight years, her responsibilities have included marketing non-credit short courses, course material publication, and developing online aerospace short courses for professional engineers. Before coming to the University of Kansas, Hunsinger has worked in curriculum development and delivery for the Lawrence-Kansas Police Department, coordinated several learning and non-learning events worldwide, and worked as a freelance graphic and web designer. She holds a B.S. in journalism from the University of Kansas.

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Abstract

Developing a Successful Framework for Online Delivery of Non-Credit Engineering Short Courses to Global Aerospace ProfessionalsFor many years, non-credit engineering short courses have been extremely successful in meetingthe needs of worldwide aerospace engineering and aviation communities by providing traditionalface-to-face training. As travel money became scarce in the industry and as the instructor poolgrew older, computer-based courses and online delivery methods were introduced. This paperpresents the failure and success of digitally delivered courses to globally dispersed professionalaerospace engineers in terms of technical difficulty encountered in the production process andeach delivery method, and assesses the courses with regard to the participants’ learning outcomes.The first course on reliability and aircraft design analysis, introduced in 2002, was technicallyweak and was limited by delivery method in a disc format. In 2008, a rich multimedia based(animation, audio and video) airplane performance and certification course was introduced, butthe production process was complicated and expensive, and the online delivery was limited bynetwork bandwidth. Based on the feedback from course participants and industry partners, asimpler presentation framework for converting face-to-face short courses to online teachingmodules were developed and introduced in 2011. These presentation modules, augmented byinstructors-participants interactions, facilitated learning across the globe. A reusable template foronline delivery of the course modules and a standardized workflow for the production of thesemodules have been formulated. The present modules address the needs of non-English speakingparticipants, the different learning styles of culturally diverse audience and the technicallimitations encountered in participating countries.

Citation
Format

Chakrabarti, S., & Hunsinger, K. A. (2012, June), Developing a Successful Framework for Online Delivery of Non-credit Engineering Short Courses to Global Aerospace Professionals Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21177